A Paradise Lost
by JustCoz
Summary: Story centered around Draco and the Slytherin gang, sixth year. New characters, no Mary Sues!, political scandal, familial turmoil and lots of evilness from the Evil King himself Draco.


7

_Great Expectations_

Draco Malfoy lay on the dry grass, staring up at the brilliant blue sky and squinted at the sun, arms crossed behind his head. The summer holidays were in full swing, as was the annual Malfoy social season- a glittering round of parties, cocktails and dinners which never seemed to stop. Somehow, every day, house elves were bustling about with silver platters and crystal glasses, his mother, always in expensive gowns, almost tearing her hair out from stress but secretly loving every bit of it, his father locked away as always in his inner sanctum, emerging only for quiet, whispered conversations with his friends. Draco had spent most part of his holiday either playing Quidditch with Crabbe and Goyle, who were around almost every day, or wandering around the spacious grounds, sometimes going on solo flights or riding one of the Malfoy stables horses, musing and reading. He of course appeared at his parents' parties but they almost always ended with him, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy wandering off on midnight walks and plotting pranks on Zabini and Von Beidermann for the following year. His homework still lay locked in his trunk, drawing him guiltily away from his wanderings and towards his own inner sanctum. That day he had decided to take his books outside, under one of the ancient oak trees that dotted the Malfoy estate, but had found the heat so pounding and his own willingness to work so feeble that laziness had prevailed and he found himself staring up at the sky, half dozing, half daydreaming about nothing in particular…going over moments from the past week, wondering how he'd start that damned Charms essay, thinking about what to wear to tonight's party…he knew Pansy would be bringing a friend with her, so he'd want to look his best for new, possibly female, company. Suddenly the glittering, jewel-like sun was obstructed by something much less attractive. A squeaking voice floated in from what seemed like miles away.

'Master Malfoy sir, your mother says to hurry home and get ready, sir, the guests will be here soon.' The house elf scuttled away as fast as his legs could carry him, just in case Master Malfoy was in a bad mood and needed somebody close by to clout. Malfoy propped himself up on his elbows and closed his eyes, stars popping up in front of them from staring up at the damn sun for too long. He collected his things and made his way slowly back to the mansion, his mind already running through his wardrobe.

Malfoy looked at himself in the mirror, a slightly pleased smile spreading across his lips. At sixteen, Draco was now almost six feet tall, his white blond hair falling arrogantly but extremely attractively on his forehead. His piercing sky blue eyes were juxtaposed against the staggeringly pale, signature Malfoy complexion, which stood out sharply against his jet-black dress robes. He slid on the gold signet ring bearing the Malfoy crest which normally never left his finger, though during the summer he found himself leaving it on his bedside table more and more. Draco stared down at it, feeling a twinge of pride at his family's grandeur. He still hadn't talked much with his father so far, though he knew a lengthy discussion pertaining to his future was imminent. He sighed and looked up at the mirror again, adjusting a couple of stray hairs. He would deal with that when it came. He knew his father would certainly question some of his NEWT choices, most notably Care of Magical Creatures and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Draco knew exactly what his father thought of those subjects…useless wastes of time, with no bearing on his future at all. Draco shrugged as if to rid himself of the thoughts at the same time as an icy, high-pitched voice rang clear from the East Wing, his parents' private quarters.

'Draco are you ready yet? Guests are arriving and I need someone to greet them…oh and please go and drag your father out of his study, he's really getting ridiculous now!' Draco sighed and made his way down the huge marble staircase that led right from his own quarters, through one of the many corridors lined with family portraits, into the receiving hall, where a few guests were already milling about, dismissively handing their cloaks to the house elves. He caught sight of Pansy, who was talking to a girl more or less their own age, with wavy, glistening jet-black hair and glittering, intense black eyes. Draco guessed that the witch and wizard Pansy's parents were talking to were this girl's parents, and that this was the unnamed guest Pansy had mentioned. Suddenly Pansy looked up and smiled as she saw Draco gliding down the staircase.

'Draco! How are you? Have you finished Charms yet? This is Jennica Rawlins; she's going to be in sixth year with us!' When Pansy had finished her breathless interrogation-cum-introduction, Draco kissed her lightly on each cheek and held his hand out to the girl with his customary Malfoy smile.

'Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy, pleased to meet you.' If she was at one of the Malfoy parties, she was _definitely_ a pureblood, which allowed him to be friendly.

'Hi, I'm Jennica. I've heard all about you, of course. Quite famous in the pureblood circles.' Malfoy gave an inward gleeful smile. He always loved to be told how famous and rich and powerful his family was. It boosted his ego somewhat (not, as Jace von Beidermann continuously insisted, that it needed boosting anyway).

'Well, you know, the fame comes with the family.' Both Pansy and Jennica chuckled. Egged on by their amusement, he continued. 'So how come you haven't been at Hogwarts until now? I gather you're pureblood English?' Jennica nodded and smiled.

'Yes, but my father works for the International Affairs Ministry. We've been traveling around the world since I was born. He's been sent here for some important post, apparently. I don't read into it too much, I just concentrate on fitting in!' Pansy looked at Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini, who had just walked in, and smiled.

'Well, you won't have much trouble here. You're a definite Slytherin, it's obvious. You can meet some of the Slyth gang today. You know, the people who _really_ matter!' Jennica laughed and looked like she was about to say something, when Draco's parents appeared at the top of the staircase and his father cleared his throat.

'Friends, guests, relatives…welcome to Malfoy Mansion and thank you for attending yet another one of our most celebrated annual functions. I hope you enjoy yourselves, and please come into the garden for aperitifs.' There was a smattering of applause from the crowd which, during Pansy, Draco and Jennica's brief exchange, had suddenly swelled its ranks and was now making its way as a mass movement towards the grounds, a small part of which had been lit up and decorated. Draco looked at Pansy and Jennica and gestured towards the crowd.

'Shall we?' Pansy giggled and slid her arm through Draco's own outstretched one, Jennica following them outside where house elves were scurrying about with silver trays, on which thousands of glittering crystal glasses were precariously balanced. Draco swiped three glasses from a passing tray and handed two of them out to Pansy and Jennica just as Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini approached. Draco scowled inwardly. If only Zabini wasn't a pureblood, then he wouldn't have to endure his presence during the summer. However, his parents were apparently oblivious to the fact that their adored eldest son was perennially in close contact with that halfblood git, Jace von Beidermann, so they somehow still always managed to end up on the Malfoy guest list.

'Draco, how fantastic to be graced with your presence. Would you like me to kneel and lick your shoes, or is that too demeaning to someone of your opulence?' Draco was by now scowling openly.

'Shut up you git, or I'll hex you.' However, Zabini's attention was instantly diverted to Jennica.

'I don't believe I've met you. Blaise Zabini, a much better acquaintance than this poncey idiot here.' Jennica smiled, much to Draco's ire, and shook his outstretched hand.

'Jennica Rawlins. I take it you're part of the Slytherin gang?' Draco scowled even more and downed his drink in one gulp, barely noticing what was in the glass.

'Oh he's in Slytherin all right, just mixing with the wrong kind of people. Tell me Zabini, how is _darling_ Beidermann doing lately? Still banging his _von_ about?' Zabini tore his glance away from Jennica and looked at Draco with a fake, strained smile.

'Oh he's just fine. I was at his place today, as a matter of fact. We were thinking up some wonderful things to substitute your hair gel with this year. Tell me, do you think violet suits your complexion, or will it make you look even more like a pasty weasel?' Draco dumped his glass on another passing tray and smiled radiantly, trying his best to behave like the perfect Malfoy host.

'Oh didn't you hear? Violet is _so_ last season. I read that hippogriff dung does _wonders_ for split ends. How're the roots going by the way? That stuff washed out yet?' Zabini's hand flew nervously to his hair, where some faint tinges of orange were still visible at the very ends.

'Not funny, Malfoy, absolutely not. So are you English then?' he turned to look at Jennica, who was giggling with Pansy over what Draco suspected wasn't exactly their first glass. She turned around and smiled.

'Yes, but I've been living all over the place since I was born. My dad's in the International Affairs Ministry. We just got in last week from China.' Zabini's eyebrows rose.

'Wow, China, that's really cool. Do they have any magic schools there?'

'Yes, but they're not very well known. They're really good though, and you get taught much more advanced stuff than at Hogwarts, even if their methods aren't entirely orthodox.' Pansy grabbed a canapé from one of the nearby tables and turned to Draco.

'How've you been Draco? You didn't seem so well last week.' Draco looked at her, wondering exactly how much information to disclose. Truth be told, he hadn't actually been feeling his best lately. All he seemed capable of doing was lying around everywhere, _anywhere_, thinking for hours on end about the most random things in the universe. Somehow he always seemed to come to the conclusion that none of it mattered and maybe his whole life was merely an illusion, and who cared anyway, and then he'd fall asleep. Then when he woke up the whole thing would start all over again. It was a vicious cycle that had kept him occupied since pretty much the beginning of the holidays. He looked at Pansy and shrugged.

'Yeah, I've been ok. You know, Quidditch and homework and all that. You?' Pansy looked at him and smiled, looking slightly disappointed. True, he hadn't really told her (or anyone else for that matter) about this ongoing frame of mind but it wasn't like he normally discussed his existential problems with her.

'Oh I've been great. You know, Jennica's parents have a huge estate really close to mine, so we've been hanging out together all week. She's really intelligent, you know. Helped me with all my homework and everything. And her brother's in England, too, but he's not coming to Hogwarts. He's training for a diplomatic post at the ministry.' Draco nodded, trying to feign at least a modicum interest in the new girl's brother.

'Cool.' Pansy stared down at her glass while Draco looked at Zabini and Jennica, who were chatting animatedly about something. He could see Zabini putting one hand to his chin in a quasi-thoughtful position, as if trying to give off an air of heavyweight intellectuality, rotating his glass so that the liquid inside it swilled round and round. Draco snorted. What a git. Pansy looked up at him again, slightly red in the face.

'So have…have you thought about…you know, what I said last week…at all…?' Draco looked back at her, suddenly wishing someone else was with them to steer the conversation onto another topic. He had been friends with Pansy practically since they were born, their parents had been to school together and everything. Obviously, some…_expectations_ had been raised this summer…he knew his parents thought it would be the next obvious step for them to…well, become _involved_ was how his father had put it. Draco had thought about it a lot during his daily musings, but hadn't been able to muster up any form of enthusiasm at all. He didn't mind Pansy, and it was ok having her around all the time, but he definitely didn't think of her…in _that_ way. The problem was breaking it to her. He'd come to the conclusion that, to avoid any unnecessary problems, he'd go along with anything that cropped up. But now that the problem presented itself, he was much more reluctant to '_go along with it_' than he'd thought he'd be. She was still looking at him, so he guessed he would have to stop stalling and speak.

'Well, you know, I've thought about it, yeah…I mean…it's a bit, you know…'

'A bit what?' He looked around wildly for an excuse, but found none.

'Why don't…why don't we go somewhere else…you know, to talk…' She smiled faintly.

'Yeah, that'll be great.' He led her over to a much less crowded part of the grounds, away from the lights and people, next to the very tree he'd been lazing under mere hours before. It seemed like a lifetime ago. He tried to shake himself. It's not like she'd asked to _marry_ him, for Merlin's sake. And they could end everything once they got back to Hogwarts, pretend it was just a summer fling that didn't work out…yes, that seemed by far the best idea he'd had all day.

'So?' she was still looking at him apprehensively.

'Well, you know…I guess we could….just for the summer, you know, see how it goes…' he was going to say something else but his words were drowned by Pansy's high-pitched shriek. She jumped up and down and clapped her hands, then flung her arms round his neck in what seemed like a very good imitation of the half-nelson Crabbe had given Weasel-face's sister last year.

'Oh Draco I'm SO happy! This is the best day of the summer, definitely! Oh I just _have_ to go and tell Jennica, she was _dying_ to know how it worked out…' Draco raised his eyebrow at her.

'So I take it you were going to discuss it with me at some point?' Pansy rolled her eyes and, with a last strangling hug, rushed off immediately, running right up to Jennica. Draco leant against the tree, closing his eyes fractionally so that the lights became tiny pinpricks and the crowd of guests was bathed in a faint yellow glow. That hadn't gone so bad now, hadn't it? A tiny voice inside his head snorted. _Yeah, pity that now you have to pretend to be her boyfriend for the rest of the holidays_. He pushed the thought out of his mind, looking morosely down at the purply-blue grass. Already, he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts.

Draco sauntered down the marble staircase towards the dining room, ignoring the icy coldness of the marble steps despite the steadily rising heat outside. He could already hear his parents murmuring in subdued voices above the tinkle of cutlery against china and the rustle of the newspaper. He knew that Crabbe and Goyle would be coming over later in the day, probably dragging Zabini and von Beidermann along for yet another Quidditch match, but the thought didn't really suscitate any feeling of enthusiasm in him. He took his usual seat at the long mahogany table, covered in a rich white table cloth and laden with bacon, eggs, toast and coffee.

'Good morning, Draco.' His father, as always, was reading the _Daily Prophet_ with a cup of coffee in front of him, his eggs barely touched.

'Morning, father.' His mother sipped at the remaining dregs of coffee in her cup and stood up, snapping her fingers in the air so that a house elf scurried towards her at once.

'I want everything cleaned up, and please do not bother cleaning the master study today.' The house elf bowed so his nose almost touched the ground, and then scurried away again. 'Draco darling, I will be away all morning and your father has some very important business meetings today, so please do not disturb him. I know some of your friends are coming later on but please try not to make too much noise; I have a terrible headache today. Oh and please remember that we're going to the Notts' for dinner tomorrow night, I take it you will dress accordingly.' Without so much as a look at either of them, Narcissa Malfoy walked off into the depths of the manor, leaving Draco and his father alone at the table. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Draco noticed that his father was folding away the _Daily Prophet_ – which, since the beginning of the holidays, had had the same large picture of a wizard with short brown hair and deep, golden eyes, today's headline reading ' _АRMAND HAINAULT STILL MISSING: FRANTIC SEARCH FOR MINISTRY OFFICIAL REACHING ITS THIRD WEEK_'. However, Draco's attention slipped away from the article and towards his father, who was now putting the newspaper down on the table and looking at him, a clear indication that a talk was approaching. Draco knew it would inevitably be about his NEWT choices: he'd seen his father intently studying last year's subject choice forms the other day while giving him a particularly _un_enlightening talk on certain aspects of _growing up_…Draco shuddered at the memory. Honestly, as if he didn't _know_ already, he was sixteen, for Merlin's sake. His father might be a hotshot in the Ministry, exuding power all the time, but when it came to parenting a manual might have come in handy.

'Draco, are you listening?' He jumped, looking up from his toast. Dammit, he'd have to pay more attention or what might be starting out as an innocent talk could evolve into a full-blown rant.

'Yes, father. You…you were saying?' Lucius Malfoy looked at his son through narrow eyes, taking out from his pocket a neatly folded slip of paper, with the Hogwarts Crest visible at the top. Draco's stomach plummeted. If anything, this was probably _worse_ than their previous talk.

'I have read your subject choices very carefully, trying – _and failing_ – to see where some of these will fit into your future career plan.' Draco felt a wave of anger rising slightly. _What_ career plan? He'd never discussed anything of the sort with his father. He just _assumed_ Draco would be taking a couple of minor courses like Potions and Transfiguration, and then fall into a conveniently just-opened place in the Ministry – not too high, but still high enough to give him a nice little starting point. What if Draco had _other_ plans?

'I just decided to take on a couple of extra courses…'

'I hardly think Care of Magical Creatures is a subject worthy of your time. You could use it for perfecting your application to _other_ subjects.' Suddenly, Draco found a will stronger than he'd had all summer. He was _not_ going to be talked into dropping things he actually had an interest in.

'My application to other subjects doesn't need perfecting. You can tell by my grades, can't you?' His father's eyes flashed angrily.

'You will not talk to me like that, understand? I have ultimate authority on you even if you are of age, so keep that in mind. And I hardly think being bested by a mudblood is satisfactory.' Draco had known this was coming. Despite their overall grades had been pretty much the same – '_Outstanding'_ across the board, with the odd little '_Exceeds Expectations'_ – Granger had achieved nearly ten marks more than him in everything. His father, obviously, hadn't taken the news all that well.

'It's just a couple of courses, it won't do any harm.' His father slapped the piece of paper with the back of his hand.

'You don't think wasting your time does harm? Severus has told me your attention's been waning since the beginning of last year. What's gotten into you Draco? I will not have any of this. Take the courses if you like, but if I hear your grades in the _important_ subjects start slipping again, you will have a lot to answer for. Understood?' Draco nodded, pushing the food on his plate round and round. At least he'd let him take them. 'I have to go now, some business contacts of mine will be here presently. I don't want to see or hear you until this evening, is that clear?' Draco nodded again, feeling relief at the thought of having to limit interaction with his father to a bare minimum.


End file.
